To Be Lost Without Truth
by danijazmyn23
Summary: The Final Battle is over. The dead are accounted for. But Severus Snape and Hermione Granger are missing. And they don't even know it. SS/HG AU Rated T for safety.
1. Chapter One

**A/N: Well here goes my next poor attempt at a multi-chaptered fic, despite that fact that I already have two running that I never update. Oh well. This one is much different from the other two. Enjoy. -Dani**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the characters. They belong to the lovely JKR.**

**To Be Lost Without Truth**

**Chapter One**

It was warm. He was walking, wandering aimlessly. He felt deathly tired and the side of his neck throbbed. He didn't know where he was. He didn't know why he was walking, or tired, or why his neck hurt. Hell, he didn't even know _who_ he was.

He paused in both his walking and his thoughts. It was true, he realized. He didn't have clue who on Earth he was. In the darkness he could see a street lamp up ahead. Beyond it lay a park; a bench; a place to rest his confused, world-weary head.

He trudged onward as eager as he could be in his weakened state. As soon as he reached the bench, he collapsed onto it. He was about to fall into oblivion when he felt something jabbing his thigh.

He groaned and shuffled his hand until it reached the offending object in his pocket. He pulled it out, revealing a slender, ebony rod about a foot long. It sparked without warning, and he lost consciousness, still lying on a park bench in the middle of Merlin-knows-where.

Yes, Severus Tobias Snape was lost. And he didn't even know it.

It was cold, even freezing, and very, very dark. Too dark, she thought, to be outside. She shivered with cold when she realized that she was sitting on a floor that was no warmer than the surrounding air. The floor was extremely slick and she found out the hard way, falling back down numerous times before thinking to find a wall for support.

She rolled off of her back-down falling position, preparing to "army crawl" to a wall or other solid object when she felt something jab her thigh. She felt around her pockets until she pulled out the object in question. Obviously, she couldn't see it, but it felt like a slim wooden rod and it felt _right_ in her hand.

Suddenly an unfamiliar word popped into her head and slipped past her lips. "_Lumos_!" she called out involuntarily. The tip of the rod lit up, surprising her and allowing her to see where she was. It wasn't a pleasant sight.

She was, apparently, trapped in the meat box of what was probably a butcher's shop. Finally able to see, she scrambled to her feet. She could see her breath condensing in the freezing air as she took in the sight of the frozen carcasses dangling from the ceiling. She shivered again from both revulsion and cold before carefully making her way towards a door on the far end of the container.

She struggled with the handle for a bit before reaching for the rod. Once again, an unfamiliar word came to her. Subconsciously thrusting the piece of wood at the door, she called out, "_Reducto_!" The door turned to dust, leaving only its hinges. The resounding roar of a veritable pack of Klaxons started. She simply stood there staring at the remains of the door until the police came.

"You there!" one of the officers, a dark-skinned female, called out to her.

She snapped out of her trance and stared blankly at the officers, too stunned to respond. All of the sudden, it seemed she had a pounding headache.

"What did you do?" the same policewoman asked angrily.

She blinked and stuttered out, "I-I don't really kn-know..."

A pale, platinum blonde policeman who vaguely reminded her of someone unpleasant stepped forward, confiscated her still unexplained rod, and clamped her arms behind her back. "You are under arrest for breaking and entering," he intoned. "You have the right to remain silent. Everything you say can and will be used against you..."

A dazed and mind-wiped Hermione Jean Granger passed out, still being read her Miranda rights in Merlin-knows-where, U.S.A.

The Final Battle was finally over. Harry Potter, The-Boy-Who-Had-Far-Too-Much-Luck-For-Any-Human, had killed ol' Moldy Voldy, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, the Dark Lord Tom Marvolo Riddle. But Voldemort was not the only one who was dead.

So many others had been lost while fighting for the cause. Remus Lupin, Nymphadora "Tonks" Lupin, Colin and Dennis Creevy, Fred Weasley, and Lavender Brown were among the identified dead. Although neither his body nor his wand were recovered, Severus Snape was presumed dead based on the testimony of Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley. Hermione Granger, well, she was, to put it simply, missing. Just gone.

When Harry first realized that his female best friend was not participating in the mourning or the celebration after the war, he though nothing of it. She's probably out searching for survivors or checking if the library's still standing, he'd thought. He knew something had to have happened to her when she failed to turn up ten hours after the battle concluded.

He enlisted all of the remaining Weasleys to search the remains of Hogwarts, Hogsmeade, and the Forbidden Forest for the missing woman. They found absolutely nothing. No Hermione, no wand, no scraps of clothing, no blood, and no signs of a forced capture. She had disappeared.

They had taken a few more hours to try to magically detect her with a series of complicated spells, but there was nothing, nada, nil. The search was pushed to the back burner as everyone was thrown into the reconstruction of Hogwarts. It was tedious, backbreaking work. Something had happened to the castle that prevented most magic from being used to rebuild it.

Ron in particular had been mortified when he'd been told that he would need to help dig graves - with a Muggle shovel. "I've never even _touched_ one!" he had exclaimed, looking at the tool wearily.

Now the Weasleys were gathered in the Headmasters' office with Professor McGonagall and Harry. "I don't know what could have happened to the girl," Minerva murmured in response to Harry's explanations about Hermione's disappearance.

Harry nodded in agreement. "We've tried everything we could think of, Professor. She's just...gone." He took a glance around the office before his eyes settled on Albus Dumbledore's portrait. Dumbledore was doing a poor job of concealing a rather guilty look.

Minerva noticed it too. Frowning, she confronted the portrait. "Albus, did you have anything to do with this?"

"Perhaps, Minerva, perhaps," he responded listlessly.

Minerva was about to say something else when Harry spoke up again. "Where's Snape?" he questioned, staring at the portrait wall. "He ought to be up there since he was Headmaster and he's now dead, right?"

Everyone froze, realizing that Harry was right. Dumbledore coughed nervously and suddenly nine pairs of eyes were upon him. "About that...it would seem that Severus is still alive."

**A/N: Well? Whaddaya think? Review, please, and feel free to take a look at my other stories. :) -Dani**


	2. Chapter Two

**A/N: Sorry for the delay. I'm a super slow updater. Enjoy this chapter.**

**Disclaimer: See chapter one.**

**To Be Lost Without Truth**

**Chapter Two**

Dawn was still several hours away when he was shaken roughly awake. It took him but a moment to recollect all of his memories and realize where-although the location was by no means exact-he was and what he'd been doing there. He still couldn't remember any events but those of late last night, still didn't know who he was, and was grasping that strange rod as though it would save him from some terrible monster. 'What the hell is happening to me?' he thought angrily.

He was suddenly snapped back out of his thoughts when a sharp female voice barked, "Sir, drop the stick, stand with your hands up, and face us." He did as he was told, eyeing the dark skinned woman with a healthy amount of trepidation. She vaguely reminded him of some authority figure he couldn't place his finger on that he must have known before he (suddenly?) developed amnesia. He mentally shrugged the thought off as she spoke again. "You are under arrest for direct violation of Flower Mound Municipal Code, Part II, Subpart A, Chapter 54, Section 54-72f and 54-72q, which state that it shall be unlawful for any person to camp overnight in any public park and it shall be unlawful to enter any portion of a public park posted as "Closed - Do Not Enter."You have the right to..."

He didn't really care what he had the right to. He had illegally entered the area? He glanced around and realized that there _was_, in fact, a sign not far to his right that did read _Closed - Do Not Enter_. He didn't even care, come to think about it, that he was being arrested for his stupid lack of observational skills. All he wanted was to remember who he was, _where_ he was, and what on the good green earth that stick was! He was only just conscious of the fact that his hands had now been forced behind his back and his stick had been confiscated. He didn't particularly care that they took it. Maybe they could tell him what it was and why he had felt that it was so important.

He hardly noticed as he was led to car and shoved in. The officer was unnecessarily rough in their treatment of him. He was suddenly hit by an extreme pain in his head, but he didn't let himself scream. He was small; very small. A much larger man had shoved him up against a wall and was now throwing beer bottles at him and screaming nonsense.

That was the last Severus Snape could remember for a while.

She, on the other hand, couldn't even remember the events of the day before. She awoke quite suddenly around 4 a.m. when someone else was thrown into the FMPD's main jail cell. She shuffled groggily to her feet, internally dismayed that she couldn't remember anything specific. She _knew_ things, but she had no clue where she'd learned them.

The new prisoner, it seemed, was out cold. He was wearing some sort of thick black cloak that was quite similar to her own unusual garb. He had greasy black hair that reached his shoulders-rather long for a man, she seemed to think-but that failed to conceal what looked like a large snake bite on the side of his neck. His nose was larger than most and somewhat hooked, and she could feel that, should his open, she would be staring into cold but fathomless pools of black. She cringed at the poetic feel of her thoughts.

"Wha's...he...doin' here?" she mumbled out at the officer who had thrown the man in.

The dark skinned woman sighed, seeming less irritated than tired. "I really shouldn't say anything," she said coldly, "but you seemed honestly confused yesterday about what happened. We found him sleeping, camping, really, on a park bench. That's illegal 'round here, you know? He would be in a different cell, but he had another wa-I mean one of those stick thingies so we decided to put you two in together."

The woman in the cell frowned. "Tha'...don't...make...much sense," she replied, still sleepy and confused. She glanced back at the man; he seemed familiar.

"I know," the policewoman said, jerking her back out of her confusion. "Look, you seem like a good enough girl, and that man looks a bit...fishy. I can move you to a different cell if you don't trust him."

"Wha? No, no!" she replied, gaining some coherency. "He seems familiar, but I-I can't remember!" Tears welled up in her eyes as the full realization of her situation hit her. Sobs started wracking her body.

"Hey, hey, honey, it's alright! What can't you remember?" the officer asked, abruptly softening.

"All of it! E-everything! My wh-whole life!" she bawled. "I can't even remember how I got here!"

"Oh my, hun!" The female officer was no longer at all threatening. Actually, she seemed kind of sad. "I'm so sorry. That's why you looked so confused yesterday at the Kroger, right?"

She nodded, took a quick look at the cell's cot, wiped away her tears, and then grabbed the arm of the man who lay unconscious on the floor. She managed to drag him into a sitting position upright against the wall, but he was too heavy to lift onto the bed. She looked pleadingly at the now kind police officer, mentally begging for help. _Please help him_, she though forcerfully as she stared directly at the woman. She was too exhausted to actually say anything.

The policewoman's eyes widened before she ran off. Hermione Granger slumped to the floor and drifted off into oblivion to join Severus Snape.

"Professor," Harry began. He was in Dumbledore's old office facing the deceased Headmaster's portrait once more.

"Please, Harry, call me Albus," the portrait begged. His painted blue eyes held none of their usual twinkle.

"For the time being," Harry hissed in reply, "I think it would be best if I call you 'Professor', alright, Professor?"

Dumbledore's portrait nodded reluctantly.

"Now," Harry continued, "I thought about what you said yesterday. Snape still being alive was the simplest explanation for the missing portrait, but how can he still be alive? Ron, Hermione, and I saw him die! He gave me his memories! We..." He trailed off, not knowing how to continue.

"I think I owe you an explanation, Harry, of a very special set of circumstances that surround Severus, thanks to a spell I placed upon him when he first pledged to be the Order's spy." Dumbledore's portait sighed loudly. "I need you to promise to stay silent, Harry. No interruptions. In fact, I know you'll try to interrupt, so I need you to place a Silencing Charm on yourself." He chuckled at Harry's expression. "Do not worry, Mr. Potter, if you cannot release it nonverbally, I can get Minerva to come help. Go on, I need to tell you this now!"

Harry quickly placed the charm on himself, and Dumbledore began to tell his tale.

"I have no doubt that you think you know that Severus loved Lily Potter, nee Evans; your mother. However, that is not truly the case. He was fond of her, yes. All of his actions for the Order were in her honor and memory, yes. But his love for her was purely platonic." He paused, examining Harry's face and seeing the question in his eyes.

He continued, "I can tell that you are wondering about the memories of Lily he gave you. It's not blatantly obvious, but, despite his objections to 'foolish wand waving', Severus is an immensely powerful wizard. After all, he did invent all of those spells in his fourth year. Yes, fourth year, not sixth. He has the power to legitimately and convincingly modify his own memories. You do remember Horace Slughorn's poorly modified memory, yes?" Harry nodded. "Severus can do that seamlessly. No smoke, no fogginess. His memory modifications are all but impossible to discern from real memories.

"The specially selected memories given to you by Severus were, for the most part, completely authentic and unmodified. He met Lily before either of them went to Hogwarts; they were good friends up until his fifth year; he blamed himself for her death and had asked Voldemort to spare her; but I never raged at him; I never distrusted his intentions; and his Patronus was never a doe." Another question appeared in Harry's eyes.

"The doe Patronus you and Mr. Weasley saw in the forest was Severus's real Patronus under a glamour, which was another type of magic he perfected. Now, I wish to explain my spell to you, Mr. Potter, before I reveal the true form of Severus' Patronus.

"When Severus first came to me and offered his services as a spy, I knew his intentions were true without Veritaserum, but I also knew he was likely to eventually be killed. Once one is dead, nothing can be done; I could not afford to lose one so valuable, and I told him such. He was surprised, to say the least, that I trusted him so easily, but he understood what I was trying to tell him. I proceeded to describe an ancient arcane spell that played on the one band of magic that Tom Marvolo Riddle never understood: love.

"You see, Harry, the spell was designed to ensure that couples who were truly in love would have equal life spans. It was usually cast upon the man, and when he and his lifemate met and fell in love, the spell would activiate. Once activated, if one of the pair became mortally wounded, an exchange of life force would be made, causing the couple to reach the same age and live. But their memories would be erased and they would be transported somewhere else where they could recouperate. They would have to fall in love again to regain their memories." Harry's eyes looked like they were about to pop out of their sockets. Snape loved someone? And that person loved him back? And they were both missing...Suddenly it hit him-Hermione.

Hermione had always been strangely defensive of Snape. Even back in third year when she'd attacked him in the Shrieking Shack her worry seemed deeper than just breaking a rule by possibly injuring a teacher. And she had been hesitant to believe that he had killed Dumbledore without good reason. Her returns of Ron's affection had never been that convincing, now that he thought about it. Yes, it seemed that Hermione had loved Snape.

_And Snape had loved her back._

Dumbledore smiled knowingly. "Yes, Mr. Potter. It was quite the risk, but when I saw Miss Granger's Patronus in her fifth year, I knew. You see, ever since the end of your third year, Severus's Patronus has been an otter."

**A/N: Honestly, I didn't mean to reveal the spell so early on, but there's still a bunch of stuff to come, so I let it write itself like this. Does the Patronus thing make sense? Originally, I'd planned to say that Severus's Patronus had always been an otter, but the characteristics of the otter don't seem much like him. Oh, and Flower Mound and their Municipal code is real, and the violations are accurate, though the punishment is. I live in Dallas, Texas; Flower Mound is a suburb that I've never been to, but I used the town anyway. Well, whaddaya'll think? Review and tell me, please! And check out my other stories, too! -Dani**


	3. Chapter Three

**A/N: Gosh, I'm updating within six months of my last update! What a shock! Don't expect it to keep happening; this chapter was almost totally written already anyhow. Aw, shucks! I know. It's sad, really. I'm making fun of my own lateness. Oh well. I would like to give an early Happy Thanksgiving to all the Americans out there. (I'm one myself.) -Dani**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. It's all Rowling's. Even the characters I invented, because they're related to canonical characters. Please don't sue!**

**To Be Lost Without Truth**

**Chapter 3**

The sun had been down for barely an hour when he once again rejoined the land of the conscious. He had a crick in his neck from...he paused in his thoughts and looked around. He was leaning up against the wall of a jail cell, in a fairly uncomfortable position. He could remember being shoved into a car and getting a strange memory of an abusive father, but he didn't recall being tossed into this cell or being propped up against the wall. He took a quick glance down at himself to see if he was wearing an inmate's uniform. He wasn't. Instead, he was wearing a strange cape and dress-like-thing combination that reached to his ankles and was all black. He took another inventory of the cell. Who was the woman lying limply on the floor across from him? She almost looked dead...

He stood up carefully and walked silently—where had he learned to do this?—over to the woman. He knelt down next to her and brushed her bushy, brown hair off of her face. He quickly checked for a pulse and confirmed that she was, in fact, alive despite a vague resemblance to a corpse. She appeared to be in her late 20s, probably about 28, and was wearing the same strange, billowy garb as he was. He smiled softly—it felt strange to do that, for some reason—as she grinned in her sleep. 'She has a face of an angel,' he thought, then grimaced at the cliché. She wasn't _that_ beautiful. Just very pretty. He chalked his mistake up to his lack of memories.

The police officer on guard chose that moment to walk by and notice him crouched over the woman. "You there," he drawled with a light American South twang, "what are you doing?"

The jailed man looked up through his curtain of fairly long black hair. The officer was a man, and his platinum blonde hair, silver-blue eyes, and pointed features reminded him of someone vaguely unpleasant. He thought quickly, trying to concoct something to tell the officer when the other man continued, "Anyhow, you're almost free to go. Our punishment for violating the little park sections of Municipal Code is usually a fine, but since you seemed like you didn't have much, we substituted a day in the slammer. So your sentence is almost up. You're free to go in the morning."

The black-haired man nodded. "So how long was I asleep?" he asked slowly, almost jumping at the sound of his low, scratchy, baritone voice. It had a different accent than his jailer's voice; a light British one, he supposed, although he knew he wasn't a good judge of his own voice.

"'Bout eighteen hours," the blonde informed him. "Hey, I've got some papers I need you to fill out. Gimme a second and I'll go get 'em." The guy was about to leave when the prisoner called out.

"Ah, sir? My name is Tobias Smith." He announced the first name he conjure up. "This woman here is my girlfriend, Eileen Kohen. She was kidnapped from our apartment in London." Again he provided the first city he could think of. At least he sounded British. "Where did you find her?"

The blonde guard's eyes widened as he turned back. "Really? She's your girlfriend? We found her in the remains of the Kroger's meat locker."

Tobias nodded thoughtfully. "Thank you for finding Lee. I was very worried about her. I assume your squad, Mr...?" he broke off questioningly.

"Malfoy. Pius Malfoy."

"Indeed. I assume your squad, Mr. Malfoy, believed that was—how do you put it?—breaking and entering." Tobias looked up at the man, waiting for confirmation.

Pius nodded. "That's right, sir. But the door was broken down from the inside, which was strange. It seemed more like breaking and exiting, rather than entering, Mr. Smith." He smirked, once again reminding Tobias of someone vaguely unpleasant that he must have known once. "She was gonna be put on trial for criminal misdemeanor, but with your written testimony, we can get her out tomorrow morning, along with you. You said you're from London, right? That's a long way off. Why were you sleeping on the benches in our humble town?"

Tobias sighed and frowned. "I had a tip off that Lee might be here about two days ago. So I dropped everything and left, not thinking about accommodations." As he said his story, he wondered internally where he had learned to lie so well. He was suddenly reminded of the odd bit mark on the side of his neck. "And my old snakebite was acting up, so I had to rest immediately. My physician warned me that if I don't take a break from whatever I'm doing when it starts twinging, I could pass out. Recalled trauma or the like."

Pius nodded like he understood. "A herpetologist, then? Or was it a zoo?" He shook his head quickly, chuckling. "Never mind. I suppose you and your girlfriend can stay with Zoey and I. Zoey's my wife, by the way, but she's also in my "squad", as you put it. Look, I'll be back in a few minutes. I've gotta file those papers so I can get you and Ms. Kohen out scot-free." With that, the man walked off.

'How strange,' Tobias thought, 'that he never once mentioned that strange rod that I found. And I never filled out any papers for him to file. Ah, well, no trouble is probably better.' He unconsciously arched an eyebrow as he refocused his attentions on the woman in front of him. Perhaps she _was_ his girlfriend—after all, he couldn't even remember his own name, let alone whether or not he'd had a girlfriend. Heck, he didn't even know how old he was.

He was shaken out of his thoughts quite abruptly when a moan sounded from the woman. Eileen was stirring.

Just as when she had woken about 12 hours previously, she could not remember even a single modicum of detail from past events. She sighed in defeated exasperation, refusing to even open her eyes, and started sobbing. Much to her surprise and confusion, within mere moments of her first tear, a warm pair of arms were wrapped around her and comforting words were whispered in her ear. Strangely, this only made her cry more, mostly because she had no clue who this comforting man (she could tell from his voice) was. Could he be a relative? A brother, uncle, father, or cousin? Even a nephew? How old was she anyhow? She didn't know. Maybe he was a boyfriend or perhaps he was her husband. Depending on how old she was, he could even be a son or, possibly, a grandson. Probably not that last one. She didn't feel that old.

When her tears stopped flowing some short minutes later, she finally opened her eyes to take in her surroundings.

As soon as she did, she wanted to close them again.

She was in a jail cell. Where exactly, she obviously wasn't sure. She had no inkling of what she could have done to be arrested, but she definitely didn't feel like someone who committed criminal deeds. And surely whoever it was that was comforting her couldn't be horrible either. Unless they were partners in crime. That's when she thought to look at the man who held her in his arms. She turned her head and he shifted obligingly into view.

Well, he definitely wasn't handsome in the traditional sense, but he had his own strange type of attractiveness. The pale, not quite sallow, pallor of his skin was accented by his unusually long and somewhat greasy-looking black hair and dark gray, practically black, eyes. He appeared to be younger than 30, but not too far away. Something in his still-youthful face spoke of innumerable hardships not recalled, but still felt. The last thing she made note of on his face, which many noted first, was his large, aquiline nose. It actually seemed to _belong_ on his face, perhaps as an offset for his thin lips.

"Are you alright?" he asked her softly. His voice was a low, smooth baritone with a slight scratch. He also had a slight British accent. She thought it was such a nice sound...it nearly sent chills down her spine, strangely enough. Oh, well, she obviously wasn't in her right mind anyhow.

She chose not to answer his question. It was, in her opinion, pointless and superfluous. Of course she wasn't okay! She was in jail and had no real memories! Instead, she closed her eyes again and proceeded to sob into his chest.

"It would seem I have said or done something untoward. However, I can't seem to recall what our relationship, if any, is to determine what is proper for me to do or not." She felt a small chuckle roll through him as he settled his chin atop her head. Then she realized the implications of his words.

She managed to calm down her sobs and look back into his black eyes. "Wait. Are you trying to say," she paused, taking in the sound of her own voice, "that you are suffering from amnesia too?" Her voice had an accent like his, but it seemed a bit thicker than his. Beyond that, she knew she couldn't accurately judge her voice.

The long-haired man nodded, then groaned. "Oh Merlin." He stopped, looking confused. She stared at him, too. What kind of phrase was that? He shook his head, then looked around, as though he was looking for eavesdroppers. "You have amnesia too?" He sighed in exasperation. "Damn. I had hoped you knew who I was."

She smiled sadly up at him. "No. Sorry. I don't even know what happened to me before I woke up. I don't suppose you know what's going on here, do you?" All she knew was that they were in jail.

"I was temporarily arrested for sleeping on a bench at off hours in a restricted area. You were found at some sort of store, next to the remains of a door—broken down from the inside." For a fleeting moment a flash of irritation appeared in his expression, making it seem more familiar to her. As quickly as it had appeared, it was gone again and he was smiling, displaying slightly crooked and yellowed teeth. "So I invented a cover story for my amnesia."

"Well what did you say our relationship was? Siblings? Friends?"

"No. We don't look enough alike to be blood relatives, so the easiest thing I do was claim dating. We're from London. We live together. I am Tobias Smith and you're Eileen Kohen. I will call you Lee, since I don't feel like someone who says things like 'sweetie pie'." He grimaced, having said that disgusting pet name. Lee stuck her tongue out too. "If you find yourself wanting to call me something shorter than Tobias for familiarity, you may call me Toby." His speech was quick and cool, very matter-of-fact. If she didn't know better, she would have thought he'd rehearsed this. But there was no possible way he could have been prepared for this, whatever it was.

She nodded. "I assume you said that I'd been kidnapped, so I'll be getting out with you, Tobias?" She frowned. "Why Eileen? That's such an obscure name. What else do we need to figure out?"

"Indeed, you will get out in the morning with me. Eileen was the first name to come to me when I was talking to the officer. I hope you're okay with the last name. It could have been Puckle." He grinned. "I figured it would be imprudent to claim marriage. A major issue we're going to have is how little we know about ourselves and, ergo, each other. Also, at some point, we have to figure out what actually happened to us. I had some sort of strange stick, and I've got this snake bite on my neck." He pointed to it. It was huge, but it looked years old. "Oh, and there's something strange going on with our clothing."

It was then that Eileen took a good look at the clothes they were wearing. They were strange billowy, multilayered garments, almost like dresses and capes, that were completely black. Their garb seemed significantly less than normal, more like something from a costume shop or a...strange ritual gang, maybe. This new confusion brought distress followed by a strange concentration over the jailed woman. She held her hands carefully in front of her and visualized some more "normal" clothing for each of them.

When she came out of her trance, Lee found the man staring at her in surprise. She cleared her throat. "Toby? Tobias? What is it? Is something wrong?"

"Clothes," he managed to choke out, quickly standing up with her and hugging her from behind.

"Clothes? What about..." She broke off as her head was pushed down by her partner. She was now wearing an emerald green summer dress with a pair of silver two-inch heels. Tobias turned her around so she could see his clothing. He now had on a scarlet-and-gold-striped t-shirt that bore the unfamiliar word "Gryffindor" with matching sneakers and khaki shorts. Where had the costume-y outfits gone? "What?" Eileen murmured. She was now not only confused, frightened, and lost; she was also exhausted to the point of losing consciousness. She leaned into Tobias's chest and compulsively hugged him as hard as she could.

Suddenly, she felt even more drained than before, and, true to form, blacked out.

Pius Malfoy frowned and turned to Zoey Malfoy, once a Dumbledore descended from Albus and Minerva's line (all Hogwarts students were told at one point or another that Dumbledore was gay, but few discovered that this was really a cover-up for his marriage to the decades younger McGonagall), and Maria. "Did Hermione just use wandless magic?" he wondered aloud, still frowning.

About three years previously, shortly after he and Zoey had returned from their honeymoon, he woke at about 3 in the morning to the beautiful song of a phoenix that was perched upon an elegant desk he had inherited from his grandfather, Abraxas Malfoy. His shocked gasp served as a wake up call for his wife, who sat up sleepily and murmured, "What's wrong, Pi?"

"Phoenix. On desk..." had been the incoherently spoken response. He pointed at it, and Zoey laughed.

"Oh. _That_ phoenix. C'mere, Fawkes," he recalled her calling to the bird. "This is my great grandfather's phoenix." The phoenix, however, flew to Pius instead.

"So...this is Albus's bird?" Zoey nodded.

"As in the Headmaster of Hogwarts? Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot? Supreme Mugwump? Grand Sorcerer? Order of Merlin, First Class?"

"Yes, Pi! Look, Fawkes is trying to deliver a message to you. He won't leave until you read it and respond if you have to."

Quickly, Pius grabbed the piece of paper off of Fawkes's ankle. It was sealed with the formal wax stamp of the Order of the Phoenix, indicating that it was urgent Order business. He broke the seal and read it. Then he read it again. And again. "Uh, Zoey, you're never gonna believe this, but your great grandfather says that someday soon his Potions Master and spy, Severus Snape, and one of his students, Hermione Granger, are probably going to appear out of nowhere. Whole thing is, they're not going to know anything about themselves or magic. Selective amnesia." Pius didn't know who either of these people were, having gone to the Ambrosius Merlinus Academy of Magical Arts in Austin, Texas, not Hogwarts.

"What? Is great granddad insane?" Zoey exclaimed.

"He put some ancient lifesaving love spell on Snape. It sends him and his true love someplace to save their lives. He checked the spell and found that it'll send 'em here. He's also dispatching someone named Maria, a relative of an important Order member, to help us when they appear."

So, as Dumbledore had written, the third squad member had transferred in from New York City about three weeks later. They'd spent the last three years waiting for the couple to show up. They finally gave up in January, so they were extremely shocked when the significantly older and younger-looking Granger and Snape, respectively, had turned up early that morning.

Now more strange things were happening. "Eileen"–Pius found it terribly ironic that Severus had chosen his parents' names despite his memory loss—was performing semi-intentional wandless magic—something that shouldn't happen despite her lack of magical knowledge. The signs indicated that she had the potential to become more powerful than Severus, maybe even Dumbledore, had been. And it seemed like she'd performed a great transfer of magical energy to Severus, then passed out. 'Oh, yes,' Pius thought, 'very strange. I bet even Dumbledore couldn't have predicted this.'

**A/N: Wow. That was a lot longer than I expected it'd be. By the way, does anyone have a guess as to who Maria is related to? I'll just say that there's some pretty obvious clues in the past chapters. See who's in the "squad", since it's only Pi, Zoey, and Maria. I finished this sooner than I expected, so I'm going to try to crank out the next chapter tomorrow and have it posted by us American's Thanksgiving, but I can't promise anything. Please review! This story is way more involved than my others, so I need to know if I'm doing anything wrong. Thanks. -Dani**


	4. Chapter Four

**A/N: Holy cat. It's been how many months since I've updated? 8? Ouch. I am so, so sorry. I don't even have an excuse. I just couldn't come up with anything to write. Unfortunately, I'm going to take a long time to get the next chapter out because I need your feedback. Yes, yours. And you over there, too. I need to know two things: how far ahead should I skip for Hermione's part next chapter (a week, a month, a few weeks?) and who should be the third person in the chapter (Pius, Harry, Ron, Dumbledore's portrait, Maria?). Keep in mind that the chapters thus far have only spanned about two days in late May. We have to get to August at least before the story ends. Thanks. Very sorry. ~Dani**

**Disclaimer: Really? It's not mine. Period. End of Story.**

**To Be Lost Without Truth**

**Chapter 4**

Confusion was Tobias's predominant feeling as Eileen fainted in his arms. He'd hardly had time to wonder why she collapsed when he was hit with a powerful wave of energy. He felt great for a brief moment before his head began to throb painfully and he, too, fainted away. But instead of experiencing the nothingness that usually characterized a dead faint, he began experiencing first hand a long series of situation that could only be described as forgotten memories.

He was small, as he had been in that earlier memory of abuse, but perhaps this predated that one, as the man who had been angry was now playing with nicely. He did notice, however, that black-haired woman around the man's age stood off to the side, frowning deeply. Presumably, these were his parents. A few comparable memories followed, but the relative happiness didn't last long.

He was still small, but now he stood behind a door, peering through a crack in the door to spy on his parents, who were arguing heatedly about something unknown. That was one of the strange things about these memories—there was no sound to them whatsoever. He wasn't deaf, so there was no logical reason for this. Just when he thought his parents' fight was going to come to blows, his mother thrust out a polished rod not unlike the one he'd been found with at the park. His father backed away in panic and his mother lowered the rod. Evidently, this was a mistake, as the man readied his fists and began pummeling the woman. His memory self built up a powerful feeling of anger and a great desire to separate his parents. The tension continued building until, suddenly, it was released. His parents flew to opposite ends of the room.

He realized that he had no idea what happened, but whatever he had done, he was going to be murdered for it. So he ran. Not to his room—that was too close. He simply ran as fast as his little legs could carry him. He sped out the front door, down the dark street, hopefully towards a populated area where he would be safe. Unfortunately, he ran instead into a copse of trees. Giving up, he found a hollow tree trunk, curled up, and fell asleep.

The next morning his memory self was unceremoniously woken by the seeming silent shouts of his father, who could, apparently, get no closer than a yard away from the tree trunk. Reluctantly, he exited his safe spot to be drug back to the house where he and his mother were destined to be beat up.

And so it was for about 3 or 4 more year's worth of memories. The abuse was broken, at times, by days spent alone with his mother and her stick and occasionally a boiling pot or books. Finally when he was about 10, things became a little more bittersweet, through bitter was still the dominant feeling. A little girl with red hair, about his age, and her strict sister began appearing at a distance. He approached them at last in a park, in front of a swing set. Both were taken aback at first, but the read head quickly became his friend. They separated a little when he injured the sister, but they were still friends.

The last memory he saw was his mother secretly opening the windows to let in an owl. It bore a letter addressed to someone; the only parts of that he could read was "Snape" and "Spinner's End". The letter was sealed with purple wax imprinted with a seal depicting a lion, badger, snake, and eagle around an 'H'. He opened it and read simply "Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry" before all went black.

When he came to, Lee, Pius, and an auburn haired, bright blue-eyed young woman were looking down at him, slightly worried. He tried to grin and reassured them, "I'm fine."

Internally, though, he was thinking, "I'm a wizard. Dear Merlin, I'm a damn wizard!"

When Eileen came to, she found herself sitting in a chair next to Tobias, who seemed just as out as she had been. The chairs were in an office with a few desks and computers, though she, of course, didn't know that was what they were. Being a curious person, she got up unsteadily out of the chair and went to check out the strange devices.

As she reached out to push a button on the taller, skinnier piece, she suddenly realized that she couldn't remember anything except that the man had amnesia too and they were claiming to be boyfriend and girlfriend. She shook her head, upset, and pressed the button. Suddenly the device made a loud whirring noise and the flat square panel next to it lit up. Lee jumped back in surprise.

A round of delicate laughter rang out behind her. She spun around to see a young woman, probably in her mid twenties, with auburn hair and a police uniform laughing sincerely. Eileen grinned sheepishly and waited for the woman to calm down.

The auburn haired woman laughed a little more and then wiped the tears from her startling blue eyes. "That was hilarious, my dear!" she exclaimed. "I suppose you've never seen a computer before, am I right?"

"No…for that matter I don't recall seeing you before, either." Eileen frowned.

The other woman smiled widely and held out her hand. "You're right, my dear. I know you, but I don't think you know me. Perhaps you know my husband, Pius Malfoy?" Eileen didn't shake, but waited for more.

A blonde-haired young man stepped around the corner. He grinned and waved. Eileen waved back reluctantly. "I do believe I've met him before. So that makes you…?"

"Zoey Malfoy, formerly Dumbledore, at your service." Zoey bowed formally, having retracted her hand, and then stuck her hand back out. Lee shook it this time.

"I'm glad to see you're awake, Eileen," Pius said sincerely. Then he sighed. "Unfortunately, your boyfriend is still out cold. Hopefully he'll wake up soon, or we'll just have to take him to the house unconscious."

Lee had no idea what this part about a house meant, but she nodded anyhow. "How long do you plan to let us stay? I'd hate to be a burden, but we may need a long downtime. The kidnapping was horrible." She shivered, but it was actually because she couldn't remember any of her life, not because of the fictional kidnapping.

Zoey looked sincerely sympathetic. "Oh, you poor dear. You can stay as long as you need. In fact, we'd love to have you stay until the police ball in August. Perhaps Tobias will have something special prepared for you," she said, winking. Her meaning was none-too-subtle.

Eileen paled. "Damn," she thought, "that's right, they think we're dating. Since Toby supposedly went all this way to get me, they probably think he'll ask me to marry him. Well, they're in for a huge disappointment." She glanced over at the prone body of the man she was supposedly dating. He was breathing, but showed no signs of waking up.

Pius and Zoey looked at him too. "Maybe we should just take him now and head over to our house," Pi suggested.

Zoey and Eileen nodded in agreement. They carefully lifted him up, but Eileen hesitated, looking longingly at the mysterious device from a few minutes earlier. Zoey laughed again. "We have one of those at our house. I can show you how it works there, if you like."

"Yes, please! Thank you, Mrs. Malfoy!" Lee exclaimed, nearly dropping her side of Toby in the process.

"Please, call me Zoey. Mrs. Malfoy is Pius' aunt. Be careful with your boyfriend, though. He doesn't need any more damage done to him."

They sat Eileen in the back row with Toby's head in her lap and a cover over most of his body, which did not fit flat out in the back seat.

It took them maybe twenty minutes to get back to their large house on the outskirts of Flower Mound. As they pulled into the driveway, Lee figured out how to open the window and had her head out it, looking around in amazement.

Just as the car stopped, Tobias started stirring in the back seat. "He's waking up!" Eileen shouted. Pius and Zoey leaped out of the car and came around to the back door to watch over the waking man.

When he finally came clearly too, he reassured them that he was fine, but Eileen noticed he still seemed terribly distracted as they walked him into the house.

Zoey was, to put it simply, worried. She was worried about the amnesiac couple. She was worried about the sanity of her deceased great grandfather. She was worried about her and her husband's jobs. But mostly she was worried about letting the two amnesiacs sleep in one room.

After some muffled discussion with her husband on the way to their home, they had agreed to place the two in a single room to not raise suspicions that they saw through the ruse. But this made Zoey uneasy.

"Hermione's memory keeps going in and out. If she forgets about the charade with Severus, she'll completely freak out about finding herself in bed with him, albeit fully clothed." She had her hands over her face, trying to conceal exactly how worried she was.

Pius just grinned a little at her and shook his head. "I did a little research on this spell, and Hermione should start sustaining memory now. She won't forget too much now. In about two weeks, she should get her first burst of memories, spanning probably about six years of her life. You're more worried that base instincts will take over and they'll do something before they're ready, aren't you?"

But Zoey was still worried. "No, not quite. I did research of my own and realized that Severus probably just got back nearly eleven years of his life. Since he was the older, he will recover faster. Hermione won't have her memories back until around the ball. I'm afraid they'll both end up with broken hearts since they won't recover at the same time."

Pius' eyes widened severely. "You were serious when you told Hermione that Severus might propose to her at the ball!"

His wife just smiled at him. "Great grandfather told me that Severus has carried around an engagement ring with him since the spell was cast on him. He was smart enough to know that once he found this woman, he'd never let her go again. As soon as he confirms that Hermione is his match, Severus might try to propose. Hopefully he'll have the sense to wait until the very end, but who knows. He's going to come out a different person this time."

"We'll just have to take it as it comes. My worry is about Hermione's power. Hopefully it's just a fluke, or we'll have a lot of explaining to do way ahead of time. In a week or two, Severus will be able to understand just enough about magic to know what's going on, but he won't know Hermione yet. It will be at least a month before Hermione understands magic enough to control it." Pius looked a bit stressed himself.

Zoey opened her mouth to say something, but Pius gestured for her to close her mouth just as a voice spoke from behind her.

"Thank you for inviting us into your home," Severus said. Hermione nodded nervously, standing next to him and holding his hand.

"It was terribly nice of you. Are you sure we won't be a bother to you?" she asked.

"Of course not, dear," Zoey told her. She grinned widely. "You'd probably best be getting to sleep now. We'll wake you up at six a.m. tomorrow and show you the place so you know what to do while we're at work."

The oblivious couple nodded and headed back to their room. Zoey lowered her head into her hands and sighed. This was going to be a hard three months.

**A/N: Please let me know if something didn't make sense. It's been a while since I've written on this and I may have messed up some detail. Please remember to review with 1. Time skip for Hermione, and 2. Third part person. Thank you all. ~Dani**


	5. Chapter Five

**A/N: Okay, I feel really stupid and about ready to jump off a bridge right now. I am so, so sorry that I haven't updated in nearly 6 months. I don't know what's happening to me. I'm going to try really hard to churn out two chapters, but I can't make any promises. So, so sorry. There's probably no one waiting anymore... Ah well, enjoy. ~Dani**

**Disclaimer: You know the drill.**

**To Be Lost Without Truth**

**Chapter 5**

Two weeks had passed since Tobias had woken on that bench, and all he actually knew about himself was that he was a wizard and evidently had an abusive childhood. He was constantly tempted to either try to do some magic or ask Pius and Zoey about it, but both were risky. He didn't recall any spells or charms or whatever they were called, first of all, and, second, he had no idea if Pius and Zoey were wizards or witches or magical people either. Sure, he'd looked around the house, but hadn't seen anything that screamed "magic". The most suspicious thing, other than the electronics, was a small pot on top of the fireplace mantle with a strange green powder in it. Perhaps it was something normal, these days? After all, his most recent memories were at least sixteen or seventeen years old.

"In any case," he thought, "they don't seem too bothered by the two amnesiacs living in their house. It was almost as though they were waiting for us..." He shook off the thought and turned to look at the alarm clock on the side table to his left. The red numbers told him it was 6:30, time to get up.

Toby flipped quickly to check on Eileen. She was still sleeping peacefully. The night before she'd stayed up late so Zoey could make good on her promise to show Lee how the computer worked. Pius had taught him how to use it at least a week earlier, citing that it "could be useful in finding a way to get home in August". In any case, he figured Lee needed some extra sleep, so he resolved to wake her up when he got out of the shower.

He took his time showering and dressed in the outfit he'd left the prison in. Even though he had no idea what "Gryffindor" was (and Zoey and Pius claimed to not know either), he'd grown to like that outfit. When he went back out to wake up Eileen, he was struck by how tired she still looked, so he decided he'd go eat breakfast and then bring some up for Lee. That was typical couple stuff, right?

Actually, one other thing was bothering him. He thought he'd just made up the whole relationship thing, but after he'd had the memory burst, he'd searched his pockets and body. Tobias hadn't expected to find anything, especially since Lee, who it seemed was also magical, had changed their clothes. So he was extremely surprised when he'd found a tasteful engagement ring in his pocket. He'd taken it to a jeweler one day, with Pius' assistance of course, who had told him it was a half carat dimond flanked by two quarter-carat emeralds on a white gold band. The jeweler also told him that the band was strange because it wasn't a circle; instead, it was a Mobïus strip, carefully fashioned so it wouldn't be uncomfortable.

So, apparently, he'd been planning to propose to someone before he ended up with this amnesia. Could it have been Eileen?

For breakfast, Zoey had prepared the usual: scrambled eggs and toast with a layout of additional toppings, like cheese and small bits of meat. She'd also made coffee and a pot of tea. Tobias ate his eggs plain with a slice of toast and black coffee before putting together Lee's breakfast just like she liked it. Scrambled eggs with cheese, chopped onions, and bits of sausage, one slice of toast, and a cup of tea with a teaspoon of sugar and a lemon slice.

He headed upstairs to deliver the tray of food to Eileen, but he nearly dropped the tray when he entered the room. Lee was still on the bed, but she was shaking uncontrollably. Suddenly she just passed out. He could tell because she stopped moving with no warning and didn't move to get up. Quickly, he set the tray on a convenient table and hurried to her side. He checked her pulse and looked under her eyelids. She was alive, but unresponsive.

He had heard their hosts' accounts of his earlier state when he was recovering his memories, and Lee's current symptoms matched those descriptions almost to a tee. He relaxed a little. So she was just regaining memories. Hopefully. It was probably best to get the Malfoy's up here, and soon.

Lee really didn't have a clue what was going on. The last thing she could remember was waking up in her and Toby's room then she suddenly passed out again. Everything was black for a while before she started dreaming. Perhaps dreaming wasn't quite the right word. It was more like she was...regaining memories.

She was sitting on a couch, feeling very short, and playing with a brown-haired man who was probably her father while a woman with curly brown hair sat nearby laughing. Both of her parents were smiling at her. There were several simple memories like that, but none of them had sound. She figured she was probably about two in the first set of memories.

The next distinguishable memory was of getting her first book. Unfortunately, she couldn't really make out the words in the memory, but judging by the expressions on her parents' faces, Lee could already read at maybe three years old. There were a few more happy memories like that, but then something changed. They moved into a slightly larger house and she only saw one of her parents at a time. For a while, she hardly saw either of them.

Finally, she found out why she never saw them. She'd probably asked about it herself, even though she was only about four, but one day her mother had taken her to an office. It was a dentist's office. She didn't know the name, and still couldn't hear anything, but she did read a nameplate that said "Granger" on it. She understood. Her parents ran a dental practice and probably didn't have that much time to spend at home.

However, after that, she saw both parents more often. But on her fifth birthday, judging by the number of candles on the cake, her parents had apparently not given her the book she'd wanted, and she broke down crying. When she was done, the kitchen was in complete disarray and her parents looked horrified. They saw that she was about to cry again and straightened their faces, but Lee realized that this memory probably haunted all of them for many years.

For the most part, everything went back to normal because she had focused on controlling her emotions. Plus, she'd started kindergarten, so she was distracted by that.

Unfortunately, kindergarten in and of itself didn't go too well for her. Kids, in their special ability to single out the most vulnerable of the group, had shunned her for her intellect, especially since they were so young. She tried very hard to control her emotions, but there were a few incidents when a particularly mean classmate's hair had changed colors or their food had suddenly become rotten while they were eating it...

When she finally came out of her memories, she found Toby looking at her, concern in his dark eyes. "I'm all right, Toby, I'm fine. Are our hosts around?"

He shook his head. "No, they went out. They left a friend of theirs, another police officer, to look after us, since you decided to pass out on us." He smiled. "I think she may have talked to you while you were in jail with me. Her name's Maria Shacklebolt."

Lee frowned. "No, I don't remember anyone by that name. What does she look like?"

"Black woman, tall? Ring any bells? Claims she was the one to throw me in your cell."

She sat and thought about it. "No...well...oh! Her! She seemed nice. I think we should go down and greet her then, right?"

Tobias smiled at her. "Of course. But I have a quick question for you. Did you remember anything unusual?"

Maria Shacklebolt couldn't believe what she was hearing. Actually, she couldn't believe the whole situation. She knew that Albus Dumbledore had been immensely powerful, but she never would have believed that he was this powerful. To get that spell to work? Wow.

She tuned back in to the conversation on the other side of the amnesiacs' bedroom door.

"Unusual? What do you mean by that?" Hermione asked.

Severus cursed. "I don't want to reveal anything about what I know unless I know you know something about it too. Did that make any sense?" He laughed a little.

Hermione started laughing too. "Not really, but I know what you're getting at. All right, I'll be honest with you, and if it seems too strange, just pretend I never said it, okay?"

"Of course, although I highly doubt it could get weirder than my memories."

"Well, all I really have is that there's...somthing supernatural about me. Like, my emotions affect things around me. When I turned five, I got upset over something stupidand when I calmed down, my family's kitchen was a mess and parents were...well, horrified. But I learned to control my emotions for a while."

"You say 'for a while'. What do you mean by that?"

"When I started kindergarten, I was always picked on by other students for being intelligent. A few of my bullies ended up with strangely colored hair or rotten food."

Severus laughed. "Well, at least your magic got you into less trouble than mine did. My father was probably nonmagical and my mother was a witch or something, but-"

Hermione cut him off. "Wait. Magic? Is that what it is? Are you saying you have magic too?"

Severus made an angry noise. "If you would just listen, insufferable girl, you'd realize that was what I was getting to. Wow. That felt really strange...when I said 'insufferable girl' it felt like bad de ja vu. I don't remember ever saying that, but maybe I have. But it felt particularly right saying it to you. Strange."

"Yeah, real strange," Maria thought, giving a snort. From what she'd heard, that was practically Severus' pet name for Hermione. Well, maybe he hadn't said it that much, but the concept was the same.

"Anyhow, as I was saying, I seemed to have inherited my mother's magic, and my father was very angry about it. He went to the bottle for comfort and ended up becoming an abusive husband and father. I remember once he was trying to beat up my mother and I accidentally forced them apart with magic. Then I got the beating. Finally, when I turned eleven, I got a letter from a place called "Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry". That's the last thing I remember."

"Wow. There's an actual school for magic?"

"I suppose."

"Do you think I went there too?"

"I don't know. It's possible. Maybe that has something to do with how we both ended up amnesiacs in the same town?"

"Possibly. In any case, I think we should go talk to Maria."

Maria quickly got up and ran downstairs. She had a lot to report to Pius and Zoey when they came back.

**A/N: I hope everyone liked that. Probably not. I always kind of imagined that, both being dentists, Hermione's parents were a bit neglectful. Probably not, but that's the way I tried to write them. Does everyone understand who each of my OC's are related to? Maria is some sort of cousin of Kingsley's. Anyway, I may or may not get another chapter out this week. Sorry. ~Dani**


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